THE DEATH SEASON ▹ final aven...

By illisius

575K 25.9K 50.5K

Every demon must have their pound of flesh. The Avengers have fallen. The unity that once protected the E... More

the death season
00 | cast
00 | cast
00 | cast
‑ˏˋ PHASE THREE TEASER ˊˎ‑
pt. i | trailer + epigraph
01 | salvation and the sun (infinity war)
02 | promises none can keep
03 | calm before the storm
04 | help arrives
05 | the attack on new york
06 | "on her way"
07 | one way ticket
08 | resurrection
09 | the guardians
10 | the battle begins
11 | the mad titan
12 | the battle of wakanda
13 | death and the endgame
14 | the snap
15 | nothing but dust
16 | and blood
17 | perfectly balanced
18 | old tech and new allies (end credits scene)
pt. ii | trailer + epigraph
19 | whatever it takes (endgame)
20 | the remaining
21 | the greatest failure
22 | five years later
24 | the final goodbye
25 | time travel test #1
26 | the silver fox
27 | assembled
28 | the time heist
29 | new york, new york
30 | a soul for a soul
31 | the reverse snap
32 | portals
33 | inevitable
34 | the biggest sacrifice
35 | it's been a long, long time
36 | the end ( for good )
graphics.
a beginning | a thank you & a shameless plug.

23 | the remaining starks

15.8K 690 1.5K
By illisius







chapter xxiii of the death season :

" WE HAVE TO TAKE A STAND . "

╓─────────────────────╖
" All we can do is our best,
sometimes the best we
can do is to start over. "
╙─────────────────────╜





























january 24th, 2023

stark residence


FIVE YEARS LATER and Lisa Stark no longer wakes up alone.

The world that the remaining Starks knew has been shattered.

The future has been nothing like she planned, definitely not like anything she ever wished for. All those dreams she had as a young woman, as a little girl who still believed in fairytales and happy endings, were shattered the day they brought her back. History has a way of repeating itself, and war has always had a way of making young widows and fatherless children.

Lisa Stark just never thought it would happen to her.

She never thought the Avengers would fail.

The widow sleeps restlessly, no one there to comfort her now. Sheets are tangled between her legs and her scarred face is twisted in pain. A thin sheen of sweat is gathered at her hairline and her flawed chest heaves for oxygen. After... after it, her nightmares became the worst she's ever had. At first, she would wake up vomiting, the memories of it all too much even in her sleep. Now, all she can do is simply try to bury her screams deep inside her, just to spare everyone else.

And early in the morning, on a day like every other, the now twenty-seven year old wakes with a start, heart racing, shoulders shaking. Lisa claps a hand over her mouth, breathing as quietly as she can, trying not to wake the male being beside her.

Lisa forgot what it was like. To hurt. To mourn. To be afraid of herself.

Even when she wakes, she doesn't feel much better.

But at least she's not alone. Lisa can sense it in the room, another presence.

Her heart continues to race. Her breathing quickens. Her repulsors flicker.

She slowly, cautiously peeks over to the side and she nearly jumps out of her skin when she sees a little face with big brown eyes and soft chubby cheeks perched on the edge of her bed, staring up at her with a funny little smirk.

Still in a panic, Lisa nearly shrieks, "What the-,"

"Shh!" The little girl called Morgan Stark hurriedly demands, dropping a hand over the woman's mouth before she quickly clambers into her bed, not even bothering to ask permission, knowing her big sister would never turn her away.

The intruder only four years old sinks into the soft mattress and Lisa can't help but smile as the younger of the two yanks the sheets over their heads to make a mini blanket fort. This is not an unusual occurrence, Lisa has woken many times to find that certain little kid with features much like her own cuddled up close to her. This just may be the first time she's actually managed to scare her, though.

Her younger sister leans in real close and with their matching noses almost touching, Lisa sleepily whispers, "What's the sitch, pal?"

"Hiding from Daddy." Morgan speedily whispers back, "It's his turn to make breakfast and it's 'ucky."

When the girl makes a face, Lisa quickly mimics her and Morgan giggles as the two sisters stick their tongues out at each other.

"Well, then you came to the right place, Bean." Yawning a little, Lisa wraps her arms around the girl and pulls her a little bit closer, "You know I always got your back."

Morgan gives her a crooked toothy smile, whispering into her sister's shirt, a shirt belonging to a brother-in-law she's never met, "When I grow up, Lees, I wanna be just like you."

And the woman who's seen so much, who's done so much, her warm blue eyes darken. She quickly looks away from her sister, running a trembling tattooed hand through her soft hair. The nightmares come back, nightmares that are more memories than anything her imagination could conjure.

The faces look blurry in her dreams, still alive but never smiling. T'Challa. Peter. Shuri. Aunt May. Wanda. Sam. Vision. Even Ned. Too many names, too many people. It hurts like an old wound, one that just won't heal, no matter how much time passes, no matter how much everybody wants her to.

Lisa's breath carefully quivers out and she can barely force a smile, "When you grow up, Morgan, I want you to be just like you... alright?"

The little girl's soft features crinkle in confusion and she looks just about to argue when suddenly the door flies open and slams hard against the opposite wall. The sisters simultaneously jump and gasp, their father's features that decorate their faces both pulling in shock.

The pair are just throwing off the blanket fort when another little girl's voice shouts, "Morgan, come on! I know where we can hide from Pops!"

Maria Stark-Udaku stands in the doorway, wearing her favorite blue striped pajamas and a pair of bunny slippers, a hand on her hip and her curly brown hair sticking out every which way. Her eyes are wide with excitement and her plump peach lips are puckered in determination. That little girl is always on a mission.

Lisa props herself up on an elbow and raises an eyebrow, "Well, good morning to you too, Noodle."

"Yeah, hi, sorry Mama-," Maria bounces impatiently, still yelling in a tone that really feels too loud for this early, "Now come on, Morgan!"

"Coming!" The four year old chirps before haphazardly flopping over Lisa's side to poke at the other person sleeping in the bed, "Kiwi, wanna play?"

The little boy just a few months older than her sleepily rubs his big blue eyes and yawns loudly, slowly shaking his head. Kwezi Stark-Udaku stretches his tiny skinny body as best he can before curling back into Lisa's side, always needing to be close to her, only ever feeling safe when in his mama's arms. Lisa gently runs a hand down Kiwi's back, feeling every single bump of his far too pronounced spine on the way down.

"'Kay!" Morgan sings back, stretching first to plant a slobbery kiss on his nose because she knows he hates it and she thinks it's funny before leaping off the bed and racing after Maria.

As their little feet storm down the hall and out of sight, Pepper yells from somewhere in the house, knowing immediately it's them, "Girls, slow down! You're going to break something!"

A fit of giggles and then a loud crashing sound is what she gets in response.

Lisa just laughs, rolling her eyes up at the ceiling with a sad, tired smile. It's just another day in the Stark-Udaku household. But then her smile fades and her brows furrow just slightly, confused by the strange feeling that's slowly welling up in her chest. The feeling that says something is different, something is happening, something is... changing.

Suddenly those familiar big blue eyes are leaning over and peering down at her so innocently, wearing an expression far too much like his father's as his eyebrows lift up and he smiles sweetly.

It hurts to look at him. It always hurts to look at him.

Six months after they brought her back, a baby boy with crystal blue eyes and dark curly hair came ever so softly into their lives. Lisa named him Kwezi, for his father, because that's what T'Challa had wanted when they discussed it. He was so small when she first held him, so fragile, so gentle, with his mother's composure and his father's smile.

He was only a few days old when they saw the effects Thanos' control had on him. From the very beginning, Kwezi was so sickly, so thin; he bruised so easily. Surgeries and doctor appointments became a regular thing, operations that his grandfather tried relentlessly to pay for. And Kwezi... he struggled to learn how to roll over, how to crawl, how to walk. Everything was always ten times harder for him. And it wasn't getting any easier.

But it isn't all bad. There are good things, things that they've gained in spite of all the losing.

So, Lisa swallows back the pain to give a big grin, "Well good morning, how's my little man doing?"

Those small mocha hands quickly sign back and Lisa laughs before the boy with the curly hair plops down on top of her chest, making her cough for air as he cuddles into her. In this last moment of silence, in her last moment of silence, her hand finds T'Challa's ring on a chain around her neck and her eyes land on the picture of Peter on her nightstand, that feeling in her chest growing just slightly heavier.

Quickly blinking back at the boy staring at her, Lisa forces a smile and scoops him up, "Alright, time to get up. One more time."











BARELY THREE HOURS LATER, the lake house in the woods is alive and kicking in every possible way.

Toys litter the floor, barely worn clothes are scattered out on the stairs, dirty dishes are in the sink. All sorts of noises filter across the Stark-Udaku household on the lake from giggles to tears to shrieks to alarms to business calls to fists hitting a punching bag and on and on goes a musical of sounds that only this family could conjure up.

An older, maybe even somewhat wiser Tony Stark jogs down the wooden staircase with ease, all being almost perfectly right in his world. More wrinkles have gathered around his eyes and a few extra grey hairs have been added to his thick head of hair, but he only allows himself to attribute that to having Lisa as a daughter plus three little kids running around the home.

The man finally has something he never thought he could have. A wife, two daughters, and a couple of grandkids that he doesn't have to live in fear for each day. It was a life he never thought he deserved, but one he's grown used to, one that he loves. He doesn't look back anymore. He's tried to become whole again.

When the world as they knew it ended, the best course of action felt like hiding away. Tony was barely alive and Lisa... Lisa wasn't ever going to be the same. The Avengers had disbanded and everyone went their separate ways. What was left of the government found it easier to blame Earth's Mightiest Heroes than a dead titan. The world's remaining population flocked together, and loss caused anger and anger caused violence. So, it wasn't safe out there anymore. And the remaining Starks did what they thought was best for their family, and they disappeared from the spotlight.

And now in the present, Tony strides across the large grassy yard with a slight bounce to his step, "Good morning, ladies."

"Mr. Stark." The two warriors of the Dora Milaje speak in tandem, eyes set forward as the women guard the house.

After all, the Dora would never leave the remnants of the royal family unprotected, even in such a secret secured location as this. It was the deal the queen made with the general when she decided to split her time between here and Wakanda. If Tony wasn't certain their home was safe before, he has no doubt of it now.

"Chow time!" The man claps a quick beat for the little girls as he grows closer to their usual play site, calling them by their collective nickname, "Where's my M&M's?"

When he goes unanswered, Tony eases himself down at the little tea table his granddaughter insisted he build, "Maria V. and Morgan H. Stark, want some lunch?"

The flap to the tiny tent shifts and then out comes a little girl clad in a blue and gold iron helmet, "Define lunch or be disintegrated!"

"Okay!" Tony quickly jerks back and raises a hand, "You found Mom's helmet?"

"Yeah, and look what I got!"

Maria eagerly hops out after her, raising her little mocha hand to reveal a very real repulsor bright and glowing aimed in his direction.

Tony's dark eyes nearly pop out of his head at the sight of the disastrous pair.

"You two should not be wearing these. They're part of a special anniversary gift I'm making for Mom..." He finishes with a soft sigh, giving up trying to scold them as he kisses their cheeks and fixes their messy hair, carefully taking the armor back, "There you go. You gals thinking 'bout lunch? Can I get you a handful of crickets on a bed of lettuce?"

"No..." Morgan dips her chin in a small pout.

"Ew!" Maria giggles, bouncing up and down.

"'Ew'? How could that be 'ew'?" Tony playfully mimics, poking Maria's little belly and making her squirm, "I know that's what you want, Morguna!"

The two continue to whine and argue before Tony just laughs and gives up, instead quietly holding up Pepper's gold and blue mask, "How did you girls find this?"

Morgan quickly looks up at Maria with big eyes and pursed lips. Tony barely resists rolling his own eyes, immediately knowing exactly who the mastermind was - who the mastermind always is. Maria awkwardly bites her lip and rocks back on her heels, trying to come up with something that won't get them in trouble. With a sudden gasp, Maria hurriedly cups a hand around Morgan's ear and whispers an answer.

With a gasp of her own, Morgan quickly nods in agreement before swiveling back around to her daddy, "Not in the garage."

"Really? 'Not in the garage'? Interesting..." Tony hums, squinting suspiciously at them, "Were you two looking for it?"

Morgan once again looks over at Maria who tries to look as innocent as possible, "Nooo."

"We found it, though!" Morgan quickly pipes up.

"Mmm. You guys like going to the garage, huh? So do I." Tony playfully grunts as Maria wraps her arms around his leg and he scoops Morgan up to his chest, "It's fine actually. Peps never wears anything I buy her."

Neither girl responds, allowing him to drag them back towards the house.

When Lisa comes out onto the porch, her hand is on one hip and Kwezi is on the other. And she can't help but smile softly at the sight of her little sister and daughter hanging onto her dad like she used to do. It's something she never thought she would see. Without the war, without the Decimation, Lisa may have never made it back home, her children would've never known their grandparents, she may have never met her sister, and there might never have been peace between them again.

But Lisa still speaks up with a teasing frown, "Maria Virginia, what're you doing? Pops is old."

"What?" Tony sharply freezes in place, pulling a face, "Am not!"

"Are too!" Morgan giggles, immediately taking her sister's side like always.

Lisa laughs and winks at her while Tony looks very attacked and very offended.

"Noodle..." The woman sighs, "You're going to kill him holding onto him like that."

"No, no, she's alright, Smalls, it's nothing." Tony dramatically grunts, shifting Morgan in one arm while dragging one leg behind him as Maria stays latched to it, "I just think I'm developing severe life-threatening back pain is all."

"That's unrelated!" Maria objects.

Tony makes a face down at the girl who smartly beams before standing and jumping up into his outstretched arm. He smiles and holds the little girl close, kissing her softly on the cheek. Getting to know her, getting to know Kwezi, it's changed everything. It's made him happier than he ever thought possible.

"Alright, good." Tony grunts again, carrying them back towards the house, "Now, I got two of my little girls. Lees, wanna join?"

Squinting, Lisa sticks out her tongue, "Hilarious."

The sound of a car crunching against the gravel draws the small family's attention, dimming their smiles and stealing their laughter. The Dora immediately stand at attention, but they relax when they realize who it is.

And when Lisa sees them, all the sudden that strange feeling makes sense. The feeling that something is happening, something is finally happening. Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, a man who appears to Scott Lang, and another unknown yet almost giddy girl all slowly climb out of the sleek grey car, their eyes landing on the two adults standing by the house.

"It's about time." Lisa whispers to herself, a small smirk finding her lips.

At the sight of the remaining Avengers, the Stark man footsteps falter just slightly and his expression grows hard. Kwezi tightens his arms around Lisa's neck and with her own blue eyes wide and scared, Maria quickly wiggles out of her grandfather's hold to snatch panickedly onto her mother's overalls.

Maria tightens her jaw at the sight, her grip tightening on her mother, "Why're they here?"

"Noodle, be nice, kid." Lisa gives her a funny look, "Say you're sorry."

The seven year old sharply shakes her head, "My sorry is broken!"

The random girl from the car, a tall blue-haired girl, smirks and points at the kid, "Big mood right there."

"Not the time, Laurie." Scott Lang sighs back.

"It's really fine, Lees." Steve waves the comment off, not used to such rudeness from the seven year old but also knowing how kids can be sometimes.

Maria looks away in shame, but she can't hide the lingering sense of tension in her eyes.

But Lisa just gently bumps her hip with the girl who grits her teeth and mumbles, "Sorry."

With one last glance at the team, Maria grabs Morgan's hand and dashes inside, slamming the door behind them.

"I'm sorry, she's just scared." Lisa can't meet their eyes, "She feels like everytime the Avengers are all together, somebody she loves dies..." She pauses and a lump rises in her throat, "And it's true."

Tony slowly wraps his arm around his daughter, holding her close, wishing more than anything that their last moment of peace, their good final days together, could last forever. Natasha meets the man's eyes and gives a small reassuring nod, promising that they come in peace. And he knows as well as anyone that time is coming to an end. When Lisa smiles and Tony slowly nods back, the four newcomers move forward, finally being granted access to their home.

And as they slowly up the porch steps, Laurie Lang can't contain her excitement at meeting two more of the original Avengers, elbowing her dad and squeaking, "Ooo farfegnugen, it's happening, it's happening!"











BUT A FEW MINUTES LATER, the giddy atmosphere has been all but sucked away. The group is sitting out on the front porch in a long and awkward silence. Tony keeps his back to them as Lisa sits on the couch with her elbows resting on her knees, the kind of insane plan rolling over and over in her head. It's risky, she's not even sure it could work, but if there's a chance... It could be their last chance.

"Trust me." Scott chuckles awkwardly, trying to defend the plan because it is technically his plan, "We know what it sounds like..."

"Tony, Lees, after everything you both've seen," Steve cuts in, taking ownership of it now too, "Is anything really impossible-?"

Tony nearly scoffs from where he stands, still busy pouring everyone's drinks, "Quantum Fluctuation messes with the Planck scale, which then triggers the Deutsch proposition. Can we agree on that?"

Laurie makes a face, pretty much none of what he just said making any sense to her. She likes two things and two things only: space and bugs, not whatever the heck this is.

When nobody else seems to know what he's talking about, Tony quickly glances at the only person who pretty much always understands him, "Smalls, will you back me up on this?"

Leaning back into the couch, she rolls her eyes, "Yes, that's true, but-,"

"Thank you!" Glancing at Scott and Laurie, Tony tries to dumb it down, "In Layman's terms, it means you're not coming home."

"Not necessarily." Lisa points at him, earning a dirty look as Scott agrees, "She's right, I did!"

"No. You accidentally survived. And geez, how 'bout backing me up, Lees?!" Tony irritatedly waves it off before he goes on arguing back, "Besides, it's a-it's a billion-to-one cosmic fluke! And now you wanna pull a..." He pauses and sighs as he gets closer to Lang, "What d'ya call it?"

"A-," Scott hesitates, glancing at his daughter who elbows him in the ribs to go ahead and say it, "...Time heist?"

"Yeah." Tony scoffs out a laugh, "Time heist."

"I came up with that!" Laurie suddenly interrupts with a massive grin, practically bouncing, feeling so proud of herself.

Giving a small thumbs up, Lisa snorts and decides to humor the younger girl, "Nice."

Laurie's grin widens, the fangirl inside of her literally dying.

"Of course! Why didn't we think of this before?" Tony sassily glances around, "Oh! Because it's laughable? Because it's a pipedream?"

Lisa can barely resist a groan at his dramatics, shifting a sleeping Kwezi against her chest.

"The Stones are in the past." Steve determines, "We can go back and we can get them."

"We can snap our own fingers." Natasha goes on firmly, set on this new plan, unable to hide the quiet hope in her voice, "We can bring everybody back!"

"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?"

"I don't believe we would."

"Gotta say this," Tony steps back a bit, waving a hand in Steve's direction. "Sometimes, I miss that giddy optimism."

Steve and Natasha glance quickly at each other.

"However, high hopes won't help if there's no logical, tangible way for Lees and me to safely execute said, 'time heist'." Tony responds tiredly, easing down next to his daughter with his eyes leveled with the captain's, "I believe the most likely outcome will be our collective demise."

"Dad..." Lisa rolls her eyes over at him.

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel." Scott quickly moves to sit down across from them, "That means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events-,"

"-Don't accidentally stop your parents from ever meeting 'cause, boy, hah, that'd suck butt." Laurie snorts dorkily.

Lisa squints and cocks her head to the side, all of that sounding weirdly familiar.

Tony painfully squeezes his eyes shut and holds up a hand, "I'm gonna stop you both right there. Are you seriously telling me that your guys' plan to save the universe is based on Back to the Future?"

"No." Scott denies.

"Yes." Laurie admits.

The Langs quickly glance at each other.

"You," Tony points at Laurie who holds an appalled hand at her chest, "have me worried here. 'Cause that is horsecrap. That's not how quantum physics works."

Laurie scrunches her nose in great offense, silently mimicking him in annoyance.

"Tony, Lisa..." Natasha brings their focus on her, saying something that's meant just for the three of them, "We have to take a stand."

Lisa slowly looks down at her tattooed hands that still tremble with memory of the power that still flows through her veins. It almost killed her. If she were to experience much more of that power, she's not sure if her body could take it.

"We did stand." Tony stares into her eyes, "And yet, here we are."

Natasha swallows hard, going silent and painfully looking away.

Scott leans close in one last ditch effort to try to convince him, "I know you got a lot on the line. You got a wife, daughters, grandkids. But I lost people very important to me. A lot of people did." Laurie's giddy expression fades and she looks down at her lap as Scott's voice raises in anger, "And now, now, we have a chance to bring them back, to bring everyone back! And you're telling me that you won't even-,"

"That's right, Scott!" Tony cuts in, his big brown eyes heavy and serious and his voice so soft with pain he's tried for a long time to forget, "I won't even."

Tears prickle Laurie's icy eyes and Scott stares at him with a gaping mouth.

Tony motions around, nodding his head towards the little boy napping in Lisa's arms, "I can't."

Steve takes in a slow, frustrated breath.

The screen door suddenly slaps open and two pairs of feet run out of the house.

It's Morgan who first climbs onto Lisa's lap, pecking a messy kiss on her sister's cheek before climbing onto her dad, "Mommy told us to come and save you guys."

Maria quickly slides up beside her mother, quickly taking her hand and watching her with strange glowing blue eyes.

"Good job. We're saved." Tony rests his head on Morgan's shoulder, holding her tight before he glances back at everyone else, "I wish you were coming here to ask me something else. Anything else. I'm honestly happy to see you guys." Tony slowly stands, trying to change the subject, trying to distract even himself, "Okay, so the table is set for ten and-,"

"Tony." Steve stops his halfway to the door, "I get it. And I'm happy for you." His blue eyes flick to Lisa and he nods seriously, "Both of you. I really am. But this is a second chance."

"I got my second chance right here, Cap." Tony drops a hand on Maria's curly head and holds Morgan just a bit tighter, "It almost killed Lisa. I can't roll the dice on it."

Tony's dark eyes slowly land on Lisa where she stays sitting, trying to figure out what she's thinking, hating it because he already knows. They fell back into that again, that way they could always tell what the other was thinking. It used to make things so much easier when she was still that scrawny gentle fourteen year old and he was barely yet Iron Man. Now it only makes things harder. It only ever makes everything harder.

As he turns back into the house, the man grits his teeth and nods sharply at the remaining Avengers, "If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch."

While Lisa sighs and looks away from her father's retreating back, Natasha slowly steps closer, "When are you and the kids heading back to Wakanda?"

When she stands, the light catches on the glint of the pale scars on Lisa's face and her chest, wounds from the Stones from so long ago. The war already marked her so significantly, her body, her family, her mind. Asking her to go back... it almost feels wrong because everyone knows she's only going to lose more.

"The summer, like usual. Few months here and then back again." Lisa puts on that same fake smile, nodding quickly as she speaks, "We all agreed Wakanda should have a Wakandan on the throne, but I help with political decisions and relations, I'd even lead armies if need be... but Wakanda isn't very political these days and we're definitely not fighting any more wars..." Tears burn her eyes against her will and her voice drops to a whisper, "We're barely keeping our heads above water. So, it's important I show my face. And so Okoye and Ramonda can see the kids too."

"I can see why." Natasha smiles softly at the little boy, gently rubbing his thin cheek with her thumb, "They're adorable, Lees."

"Thanks." Lisa smiles down at him, "Maria's my spitfire, Kiwi's my sweetheart."

"Still hasn't said anything?"

Her smile loosens just slightly, "No. Nothing. Doctors say nothing's wrong with his vocal chords..." The boy plays with the strap of her overalls, his head up in the clouds, "They say it's probably because of a... an 'illness' when I was, um, when I was pregnant with him."

Natasha looks slowly up at Lisa, her eyes flickering with understanding, "Thanos did this?"

Lisa doesn't respond to that, instead saying, "I heard about Svetlana..." Her eyes crinkle of sorrow for the girl who became her friend, "I'm sorry, Nat."

The redhead hurriedly nods, her eyes finding her shoes, "She's lost, and maybe that's my fault."

Neither mother goes on then, neither knowing what to say.

It's Steve's voice that draws them out of their silence, "Lees, you can come back."

The twenty-seven year old glances up at him with a sigh, "Steve..."

"You can fight, Lisa. You can fight better than most of us, all of us. Just because Tony doesn't want to, doesn't mean you don't have to. What happened five years ago can be changed, reversed, set right. We can get them all back, Kid, all of them." Steve watches her for a long moment, slowly shaking his head, "T'Challa."

Lisa stiffens the moment the name comes out of his lips, her eyes squeezing closed and her hands beginning to shake.

"Peter. Shuri. Wanda. Fury. Every last one of them."

The woman's smile has long since disappeared and when she opens her eyes, they're that cold distant blue and her jaw clenches. Her stomach is twisted into knots and her heart feels that old familiar push and pull; that desire for the Stones, that love for her family, both of them warring in her chest and threatening to tear her open.

"I... I want to. You can't know how much... I've been waiting for this for a long, long time." She fights almost hyperventilating, trying to keep herself from panicking, "But not without my dad. I won't be without him anymore. Last time we went head-to-head about something, it really didn't turn out too great for a lot of people. I'm not doing that again."

Struggling to hide his disappointment, Steve stares at the girl he's known for eleven years now, "When you're ready, you'll come home?"

Lisa just laughs a little, a worn heavy laugh, but a laugh nonetheless, "I am home."

And as the last Avengers slowly leave the Stark-Udaku household, Natasha keeps her hands in her pockets, "He's scared."

Shifting his leather jacket over his shoulders, Steve sighs back, "He's not wrong."

Scott jogs to keep up as Laurie quickly spews, "I mean, I get it, but like, what are we gonna do now? We need those guys - they're flip-floppin' Iron Man and Red Raven! What, are we gonna stop?"

Glancing back at the house, Natasha rests her hands on the top of the car, "Lisa will talk him into it."

"Maybe." Steve concedes, glancing back at the family's house, "But until then, I wanna do it right. We're gonna need a really big brain."

Making a face, Scott throws his thumb over his shoulder, "Bigger than theirs?"
































[ I hear babies crying
I watch them grow
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world ]

xxiii. what a wonderful world joseph william morgan ft. shadow royale






























wowowow, so here is finally an update. ugh, this chapter caused me so much suffering, i can't even begin to explain how hard it was to write. i'm honestly been feeling very scared about my writing lately, so what do you think? how did you all feel about how the starks have been fairing in these past five years? writing their new lives and everyone being somewhat happy-ish was very refreshing. and oh my gosh, there are so many kids now, lord, but i love them all and writing them was so much fun! and wasn't kwezi so cute and sad? i broke my own heart! and how about laurie meeting lisa, that was so fun for me too! and heyyy we got a mention of svet! yikes, she's coming back soon too! THAT'S going to be fun lol

alrighty, what were your thoughts? what do you think is gonna happen next? what do you WANT to see happen next?

also, i want to apologize for the delay on getting this chapter out. not only was it very difficult for me to write, but i've also been going through a bit of a hard time recently. there's been a lot of family drama and problems and it's been hard to cope and my inspiration has been fleeting. so please PLEASE be patient. 

anyway, thank you so much for your continued support! love you all, and please remember to comment, vote, and maybe give me a follow? join me next time xx

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The Avengers get a DVD after Civil War (Endgame and Infinity war don't happen) where they all reconcile, they see what Natasha got up to after Civil...